ALEJANDRO ULISES CANALES SÁENZ

b. 1974, Santiago, Chile

WORKS  |  BIOGRAPHY  |  EXHIBITIONS  |  PUBLICATIONS

SELECTED WORKS

BIOGRAPHY

Born in 1974 in Lo Prado, Santiago, Chile, Ulises – who is called by his second name – discovered his passion for drawing at a young age. At the age of 12, he wrote a book about space as part of a school assignment during the winter holidays. However, his teacher, unable to believe that a child could produce such a work, dismissed it. Around this time, Ulises began creating intricate drawings, plans, and figures while discovering the surreal art of Salvador Dalí, who would become his greatest inspiration.

As Ulises increasingly felt disconnected from the present, doctors prescribed psychotropic medication, and he was withdrawn from school after the 8th grade to work as a salesman with his father. Despite these efforts, his sense of disconnection persisted. In search of spiritual solace, he embraced Christianity, experiencing what he interpreted as supernatural events, including the sensation of the Holy Spirit's presence and a claimed vision of being transported back to the time of Jesus’ crucifixion.

From 2001 to 2008, Ulises struggled with paranoid schizophrenia, which led to several brief hospitalizations. Despite these challenges, his intricate drawings gained significant admiration, including from his attending doctor, Dr. Aldo Varas Ríos.

Since 2009, Ulises has dedicated himself exclusively to drawing. In 2013, he held his first exhibition at the Fundación Cultural Lo Prado in Santiago. Two years later, in 2015, he received a prestigious invitation to participate in the group exhibition Les Cahiers dessinés at the Museum of Art Brut and Art Singulier Halle Saint Pierre in Paris.

Ulises, who he sees himself as an instrument of God, expressed in an interview he gave to Ophelia magazine in 2023, that he creates his drawings spontaneously, without conscious intention, and that he is motivated by the idea of sending divine subliminal messages through his drawings. He said: "I want to show in my works that there is more: beings, places, infinite worlds, planets and galaxies. I am grateful to God for expressing Himself through me.

Ulises Canales Sáenz’s artwork can be broadly categorized into two distinct yet interrelated themes. One category features recognizable motifs, including faces, demon-like creatures, claws, snakes, crosses, and symbolic depictions of sunrises and sunsets, often infused with religious themes and occasional biblical quotations. These works convey a mysterious and sometimes unsettling aura.

The other category embraces abstraction, where figuration gives way to striking aesthetic elements that enhance the visual impact of his pieces. Upon closer examination, one can discern small-scale basic components that, at first glance, appear as iterative stains. These drawings are composed of self-similar line elements, reminiscent of unknown hieroglyphs or petroglyphs from a lost civilization. This oscillation between pictorial representation and asemic writing creates a unique visual language that suggests an interpenetration of the systems of written language and symbolic signs.

SELECTED EXHBITIONS

2024 Group exhibition at La Galeria / Santiago de Chile / 12. Dezember 2024 bis Januar 2025.
2024 Del espacio interior / Centro Cultural San Joaquín / Santiago de Chile / December 5 to 12, 2024
2024 The Spirit of Ulises / Cultural Center Tío Lalo Parra Cerrillos / Santiago de Chile / May 3 to June 2024
2015 Les Cahiers dessinés / La Halle Saint Pierre / Paris / January 21 to August 14, 2015
2013 The Spirit of Ulises / Fundación Cultural Lo Prado / Santiago de Chile / May 24 to June 24, 2013.

PUBLICATIONS

“Mundo paralelo,” Interview with Alejandro Ulises Canales Sáenz. Ophélia: Más allá del talento 7, 22, 2023, p. 20–25.